The challenge remains deep and wide. Human attention spans are short. Carl Sandburg, who witnessed and wrote about Chicago’s 1919 riot, penned a poem about the cycle of convulsion and complacency: “Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red drops for history to remember. Then—I forget.” As we, the people, move forward, the ghosts of the Chicago riot of 1919 and of the other riots across the nation in that Red Summer whisper in the streets, calling us all to remember.
